Hymns of the Church - Orthodox Church Quotes

St. John of Kronstadt: The Church, through the temple and Divine service, acts upon the entire man . . .

“The Church, through the temple and Divine service, acts upon the entire man, educates him wholly; acts upon his sight, hearing, smelling, feeling, taste, imagination, mind, and will, by the splendour of the icons and of the whole temple, by the ringing of bells, by the singing of the choir, by the fragrance of the incense, the kissing of the Gospel, of the cross and the holy icons, by the prosphoras, the singing, and sweet sound of the readings of the Scriptures.”

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Kontakion of The First Week of Great Lent: My soul, my soul, arise! Why are you sleeping? . . .

Church Prayers, Hymns, Services / By Orthodox Church Quotes

My soul, my soul, arise! Why are you sleeping? The end is drawing near, and you will be confounded. Awake, then, and be watchful, that Christ our God may spare you, Who is everywhere present and fills all things.

+ The First Week of Great Lent, Kontakion, Tone 6

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Theotokian: We ever give thee thanks and magnify thee, O pure Theotokos . ..

Church Prayers, Hymns, Services / By Orthodox Church Quotes

“We ever give thee thanks and magnify thee, O pure Theotokos; we venerate and praise thy childbearing, O full of grace, and we call upon thee without ceasing: Save us, merciful Virgin, in thy love; deliver us from the fearful scrutiny which we must undergo before the demons, and in the hour of our examination suffer not thy servants to be put to shame.”

— Theotokian in the 1st Kathisma hymns at the Matins of Cheesefare Saturday; Triodion Supplement, p. 58

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St. John of Damascus: Truly most frightening is the mystery of death . . .

Sayings from Saints, Elders, and Fathers, Church Prayers, Hymns, Services, St. John of Damascus / By Orthodox Church Quotes

“Truly most frightening is the mystery of death, how the soul is violently separated from its concord with the body and, by divine decree, the most natural bond of their cohesion is severed.”

— St. John Damascus, Idiomelon for the dead in the 4^th tone (Octoechos)

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St. Porphyrios: The soul is sanctified and purified through the study of the Fathers, . . .

Sayings from Saints, Elders, and Fathers, St. Porphyrios / By Orthodox Church Quotes

“Our religion is perfectly and profoundly conceived. What is simple is also what is most precious. Accordingly, in your spiritual life engage in your daily contest simply, easily, and without force. The soul is sanctified and purified through the study of the Fathers, through the memorization of the psalms and of portions of Scripture, through the signing of hymns and through the repetition of the Jesus Prayer.

Devote your efforts, therefore, to these spiritual things and ignore all the other things.”

— St. Porphyrios, Wounded by Love

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St. John Maximovich: When the Church tells us in her hymns and icons . . .

Sayings from Saints, Elders, and Fathers, St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco / By Orthodox Church Quotes

” . . . when the Church tells us in her hymns and icons that the Apostles were miraculously gathered from the ends of the earth in order to be present at the repose and burial of the Mother of God, we as Orthodox Christians are not free to deny this or reinterpret it, but must believe as the Church hands it down to us, with simplicity of heart.”

– St. John Maximovich, The Orthodox Veneration of Mary the Birthgiver of God

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St. John Chrysostom: Teach him to sing those psalms . . .

Sayings from Saints, Elders, and Fathers, St. John Chrysostom / By Orthodox Church Quotes

“Teach him to sing those psalms which are so full of love of wisdom; as at once concerning chastity or rather, before all, of not companying with the wicked, immediately with the very beginning of the book; (for therefore also it was that that prophet began on this wise, ‘Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly’; Ps. i. I, and again, ‘I have not say in the council of vanity’; Ps. xxvi. 4, Sept., and again, ‘in his sight a wicked doer is contemned, but he honoreth those that fear the Lord,’ Ps. xv. 4, Sept.,) of companying the good, (and these subjects thou wilt find there in abundance,) of restraining the belly, of restraining the hand, of refraining from excess, of not overreaching; that money is nothing nor glory, and other things such like[…]When in these thou hast led him on from childhood, by little and little thou wilt lead him forward even to the higher things. The Psalms contain things, but the Hymns again have nothing human. When he has been instructed out of the Psalms, he will then know hymns also , as a diviner thing.”

— St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Colossians, Homily 9

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